Newspaper headlines: 'Stop Rishi' push and Britain on heat 'red alert'

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By BBC News
Staff
PA Media

Rishi Sunak remains the frontrunner in the race to replace Boris Johnson as Tory leader

The face of former chancellor Rishi Sunak as he launched his bid to succeed Boris Johnson features on a number of Wednesday's front pages.

Speaking in an interview, he told the Daily Telegraph that he'll run the economy "like Margaret Thatcher" and cut taxes responsibly if he wins.

Mr Sunak remains the favourite for many for papers, but after a day at Westminster described by the Guardian as "frenetic" and "fractious" there's also a sense of a concerted effort to derail his chances.

The Daily Mail says the Tory right is rallying behind Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, with supporter Jacob Rees-Mogg attacking Mr Sunak's economic record.

He writes inside that, as chancellor, Mr Sunak raised the tax burden to its highest levels since the "socialism of 1950s Labour" and that he squandered "the Conservative Party's decade-long effort to build a competitive tax regime".

The Times and the Financial Times are among those to report that Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, who is also backing Ms Truss, has accused the Sunak campaign of using dirty tricks by loaning votes to fellow hopeful Jeremy Hunt.

Ms Dorries believes the Sunak camp want a candidate they can definitely beat. Those claims, according to the Guardian, have been denied by allies of both Mr Sunak and Mr Hunt.

The i says cabinet favourites to be the next prime minister are being shunned by Conservative Party members, who it says prefer "relative outsiders Penny Mordaunt or Kemi Badenoch". Both have polled very well in a survey for the Conservative Home website, though the i concedes they may struggle to get the backing of enough MPs.

In a piece on Ms Badenoch, the paper says her "insurgent campaign is gaining momentum" and she's promised "no tax cuts without limits on government spending".

Gary Lineker remains the BBC's highest-paid star, the corporation's annual report has shown

Away from Westminster, the Daily Mirror leads with an investigation that has unearthed tonnes of recycled waste from this country illegally dumped in Turkey.

The paper says plastic "diligently disposed of by households" is ending up on tips there before being offloaded to criminal gangs who flytip it and set it on fire. In an editorial, the paper says that "dumping rubbish in Turkey is the colonial economics of a country disgracefully passing the buck".

The Times reports that the BBC has been criticised for "further enriching some of its biggest stars" with pay rises of up to £110,000. It says six of the 10 best-paid presenters were given increases despite "the corporation's claims that it exercising restraint".

Both the Express and the Star question the salaries. The Star says Match of the Day's "footie waffler" Gary Lineker gets £1.35m for "doing a job" its readers could do "standing on their heads".

And the headline in the Sun reads: "Boris gets a new job... Becker that is". The paper reports that former tennis star Boris Becker, jailed in April for hiding £2.5m in assets to avoid paying debts, is teaching sports science to fellow inmates at Huntercombe prison, Oxfordshire.